Our AJC colleague Aaron Gould Sheinin, traveling with Michelle Nunn, filed this dispatch:
COLUMBUS -- The time for big speeches and television advertising is over, Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Michelle Nunn said Saturday in Albany.
“We’re going to travel this state the next three days to get as many people out as possible,” Nunn said at Carter’s Grill and Restaurant, a fixture of Albany’s African-American community. “This race is going to be decided by people like you. It’s all about mobilization now.”
To that end, the 30 or so supporters at Carter’s fanned out across town, carrying clipboards with personalized voter lists and door hangers, to canvas for support.
Nunn, her husband, Ron, and their children, Vinson and Elizabeth, worked a few blocks of a middle class neighborhood, knocking on the doors of voters who have shown a tendency to cast ballots in presidential elections but not necessary in midterms.
“Hi, I’m Michelle and I’m running for office,” she told one homeowner.
The woman had already voted. Nunn asked her to help get others out on Tuesday. The woman promised to do so, and wouldn’t let Elizabeth leave without two handfuls of Halloween candy.
Here in Columbus, Nunn told another couple dozen supporters, why the race matters. She and her family stopped at a Chick-fil-A this morning, Nunn said, and “the woman at the drive-through window said, ‘I’m so excited about your campaign. You’re for raising the minimum wage, right?’”
She is, in fact, and raising the minimum wage is one of a host of “issues that have to be tackled by people coming together,” Nunn said.
Her Republican opponent, former business CEO David Perdue, offers a stark contrast, Nunn said.
“He has mastered creating jobs in other countries,” Nunn said. “The people around him have not been served well.”
The differences are clear, she said.
“We have a choice between collaboration and between more partisan gridlock in Washington,” Nunn said. “And a choice of someone willing to serve all the people of this state and unite this country, and, oh yeah, of creating history.”
Elizabeth and Joe Russell of Columbus hope to see it.
“We want someone in Washington that’s smart and someone willing to work with the other side,” Joe Russell said. “She has the right ideas. She’s right on the minimum wage, right on people.”
Plus, Elizabeth Russell said, it’s time for woman to win.
“It’s time for a woman, a young, bright woman who has dedicated her life to public service would be a great senator,” she said, before sighing, “Oh, if we can just win this.”
***
Our AJC colleague Nicholas Fouriezos was with David Perdue as he returned home to Houston County on Friday, to finish off his RV tour:
PERRY -- U.S. Senate hopeful David Perdue's stump speech took a folksy turn Friday, as the former Dollar General CEO climbed onto the bed of a pickup truck to address the hundreds of supporters who had gathered hear where he grew up in Middle Georgia.
“Let’s get back to our founding principles,” Perdue said. “Economic opportunity. Fiscal responsibility. Limited government and individual liberty.”
The event capped a whirlwind two weeks, including 10 days on the road touring more than 65 Georgia cities ahead of the election now a mere four days away. From Hiawassee to Hahira, as Perdue likes to quip.
On Friday, it was former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee who served as Perdue’s final warm-up act to close the get-out-the-vote tour.
“You know what’s really scary to the Democrats? Electing David Perdue,” Huckabee said, alluding to the Halloween backdrop. “If he doesn’t get this Senate seat, it’s not just about Georgia. It’s about America.”
Perdue has advertised his campaign as not just a vote for him, but also a vote for a Republican majority in the Senate that would reverse a glut of lame duck bills. Intrinsic to that argument is his claim that his Democratic opponent would be “a rubber stamp” for the current administration.
Nonprofit organizer Michelle Nunn has rejected that notion, often saying she would work across the aisle in the same way her father, 24-year U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn did.
“It’s very simple. If you like what’s going on, vote for Michelle Nunn, because she is absolutely going to be a proxy for (Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid and President Barack Obama,” Perdue said. “I don’t care what her last name is.”
The talking points haven’t changed much since a raucous Oct. 7 debate here in Perry, but the cast of characters has.
GOP presidential candidates – some from the past, others considering future runs – have been featured on Perdue’s campaign trail, from U.S. Sens. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz to former Gov. Mitt Romney, in addition to Huckabee, who now is a television show host for Fox News.
Polls have shown Perdue with a slim lead here in the final stretch, which includes a final Atlanta debate on Sunday and a hectic flight schedule planned for Monday.
“I should not be here. I’ve never run for office before,” Perdue said. “But with your help and the grace of God, we will not give Harry Reid one more vote in the U.S. Senate.”
About the Author
